Tracking of users on the Internet is an important component of web analytics. Customer tracking can help a business determine whether certain advertisements or marketing campaigns effectively lured the customer to the business' website or application. For example, companies can send email advertisements to users and later track whether those users purchased the products advertised in the emails. The company can then carefully tailor their marketing budget towards those activities that generate the most business.
An email beacon (or a “web bug”) is one manner of tracking an online user. The beacon is typically an object embedded in a web page or email that can be checked to determine whether the user has accessed content. For example, a beacon can be included within an email and, when the email is opened, the beacon can make a request back to a server. By sending this request, the server knows the user opened the email; or, in the world of web analytics, the company knows an existing or potential customer opened the email and viewed a marketing campaign in the email when the company receives notification from the server that a request was made. The beacon is typically a single-use identification and is unable to be stored within a browser cache. Similar tracking methods, such as cookies, are blocked or filtered by most email software.